Donald Trump and American Pastors: The Reason Nations Fail

8 The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

The attitudes of influential, evangelical Christian pastors regarding the words and actions of President Donald Trump reveal the dangerous spiritual condition of the United States. The President has clearly and repeatedly identified himself as antagonistic to righteousness and to justice. In view of this, the actions of prominent pastors to justify and support his behavior demonstrates the bankruptcy of evangelicalism, whatever that term means at this time. It also unveils the possibility that Trump himself is a judgment of God upon our nation as God gives us the kind of government which we richly deserve.

God Holds Nations Responsible For Their Moral Judgment

God holds the nations responsible for their adherence to morality [Romans 1.18]. The bible teaches that nations rise and fall based upon spiritual factors. Changes in politics, economics and military effectiveness are, in part, symptoms of underlying spiritual factors. National fortunes are related to a nation’s willingness to follow moral principles [Isaiah 14.3–6; Jeremiah 22.1–5]. These principles derived from the Bible and are today modeled by the church, which is the body of persons redeemed by faith in Christ. These believers exercise extraordinary but invisible historical influence [Matthew 5.13–14; 1 Peter 2.9] by the witness of their lips to the gospel and the witness of their lives as they function as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 11:10–11 (KJV 1900)

10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: And when the wicked perish, there is shouting. 11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

As Go the Pastors-So Goes the Nation

It is the pastor of the local church that is responsible for guiding believers to spiritual maturity. They do this by the teaching of the Word of God, the Bible, and by modeling the Christian life themselves. In the Jeremiah 2 reference above, those in Israel assigned the task of shepherding the nation failed to do so, resulting in military defeat and slavery of the people. As go the Christian pastors, so goes the Christian believers and eventually, the nation itself.

The spiritual condition of the Christian pastors of a nation is a barometer of the spiritual climate of the nation itself. It is a true statement that no nation can survive the nullification of their Christian pulpits.

Some of the best known pastors in America have supported and more importantly, continue to support the President. These men continue to represent the President as suitable for the leadership of the nation despite a long history which demonstrated otherwise, a presidential campaign which showcased the worldview and character of the man and finally the 200 days of progressively more irresponsible, wicked and dangerous behavior he has displayed while in office. The President is ignorant of the Bible, but these pastors are not. While the President may simply be unqualified by temperament and character for the office, these pastors have the greater guilt in misleading their followers by their failure to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil.

This unwillingness to call sin what it is and to speak truth to power is very damaging to the Christians who look to these pastors for biblical instruction and leadership as Christian role models. If this is what these pastors believe, is it any wonder that so many Christians share their convictions? It is their disregard for the clear application of the scriptures that propel the nation into divine judgment.

“Shame on the politicians who are trying to push blame on President Trump for what happened in #Charlottesville, VA. That’s absurd. What about the politicians such as the city council who voted to remove a memorial that had been in place since 1924, regardless of the possible repercussions?”

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; That put darkness for light, and light for darkness; That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Redefining Christianity

In Matthew 4 the devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of this world if He would fall down and worship him. In Exodus, Moses rejected the privileges of Egyptian royalty in order to suffer hardship with the people of God.

By contrast, these pastors have placed their desire for the implementation of a specific secular worldview above their responsibility as teachers of the Word of God. The fact that the worldview that they promote is shot through with injustice and prejudice is not just a bad example to Christians and unbelievers alike, but that worldview is a conveyor belt to other significant departures from divine authority. In fact, a wholehearted commitment to what appears to be the worldview of the President and his supporters would require either the rejection of the Scriptures as a basis of truth or a significant reinterpretation of what the bible is saying to us regarding justice, righteousness, honesty, self-control and love.